Heart of Gold
by AngeK16
Summary: Ayako and Miu had never met each other in their lives. When they were brought together by otherworldly creatures, they were sent back in time to prevent the damage that Kira imposed onto humanity. The only way to do this is to stop Light Yagami from ever getting hold of the Death Note. Will have one-sided Light/OC. Will stray greatly from the original plotline.


Disclaimer: I didn't own Death Note.

Chapter 1

_We scooped our way into your dreams_

_To knock the knives out bloody cold_

_And lead you down the unforsaken road_

Marina and the Diamonds/**Mowgli's Road**

December 31st 2014 10:34pm

The cold night breeze blew my fringe into my eyes. I sweep it out of my eyes, wishing that I had brought a hair clip with me. My mother walks beside me; we were behind my dad and my little brother, Takeshi. My older sister, Noa; wasn't with us; she parted ways with us when she saw her friends.

I shove my hands deep into my coat pockets, which wasn't very deep, since my pockets can barely fit my smartphone.

My mother looks at me. "Are you cold?" She asked in a reprimanding voice. "Do you want my scarf?"

I deny her. I didn't like scarfs. They're too restricting around my neck. I hardly wear necklaces either, or button my shirts up to the top. It feels like I can't breathe.

Usually New Year's Eve is pretty quiet. We normally stay at home and have a quiet celebration like most families do, but this year, my brother wanted to have a western celebration. Initially I was against it, but whatever Takeshi wanted, he got it.

We were going to a restaurant, and later we would migrate to Shibuya crossing, where there would be a small celebration until the New Year, where were would count down until it was 2015.

I thought it was pretty stupid. We could do the same things in the comfort of our own house, but my parents thought that it was a good idea. I had no choice but to go along. New Year's Eve is a 'family time'. My sister had put up a really huge fight with my parents so she could go with her friends. My parents only let her go when they finally realised that she was now legally an adult and let her go.

I was 17, so I was still living under my parent's care, even though I was turning 18 in 1 month and 5 days, but to my parents, I was still a little child in their eyes. .

We stop at a restaurant. There was a balcony over the side, so you could eat watching all the passers-by walk past the restaurant.

It was a pretty fancy restaurant all-in-all. Very few people were in there. There's a family consisting of a mother, father, two girls and boy. On a separate table there is a woman dining alone, and another woman who was looking what to order. I didn't think much of them when I walked in with my family, but I noticed when the woman who was looking what to order looked up at me, with unsettling eyes, when she caught me looking, she quickly looked away to the other family, her eyes on one of the girls. She looks back to her menu, and apparently decides that she doesn't want anything and promptly leaves.

It's warm inside, and the restaurant has yellowish tone from the dim lights hanging from the ceiling. A waiter hastily comes up to us, scanning his eyes over the top of our heads.

"A table for four?" He asked.

"Yes, please." My mother said.

"Excellent, come this way." He guided us to a small table, with four woven chairs on the edges.

I sat down, adjusting my shirt as I did so. The menu is already in front of us on the table. I pick one up as everyone else joins me.

I quickly scan the menu, even though I already know what I am going to order.

I scan for the ramen, noticing that it was only 840 yen. Score! Ramen was always my usual order whenever I go to restaurants. It was tasty, and was usually ready to serve, since that what most western tourists came to try whenever they came to Japan, and since it was New Years, no doubt that the crossing would be full of tourists. I was even sort of surprised that there weren't any in the restaurant.

I close the menu, setting it on the table, considering if I should get some sushi instead. That was a delicacy that we never really have in Japan.

I decided for a change and order some sashimi.

It wasn't long until the same waiter came over to ask us what we want to eat.

My dad asked what my brother wants, and we all go around the table saying what dish we want to eat.

When I say that I want a platter of sushi, my brother made a strangled noise, exclaiming profusely. "Something other than ramen? I'm amazed!" He said loudly, hands flailing in the air.

I roll my eyes. My brother has a flair for theatrics.

The waiter nods. "Your food will be ready soon," He said, then leaves.

My brother made a small discussion at the table. "You're going to university this year, weren't you? Which one were you going to again?"

I nod. "To-Oh." I say bluntly.

"Cool!" My brother said.

I shrug. "I guess so. Have you heard the rumours that the original Kira used to go to that school?"

I spoke in a hushed voice. A few years ago, a delusional person had found the power to murder people without ever having to lay their hands on the person. Criminals started dying all over the globe, and nobody could do anything to stop it. I didn't know all of the details of what happened. All I know, or have figured out using deductive reasoning, was the person who had believed him to become the new God of humanity, had either been apprehended, or is dead.

I was 9 years old when Kira first started killing, so a lot of the details were hazy for me, and ever since it stopped and the case deemed over, everything had been kept hushed up, like nothing had ever happened.

I didn't care, to be honest. It was done, it was over, but there was still the looming feeling of something supernatural. After everything that had happened, a lot of people were scared. No human could have the power to kill anybody simply with a heart attack, as was Kira's preferred method of killing. There was something else sharing the universe with us. That much was certain, even if many people tried to deny it.

The thought of an omniscient being watching us, judging us- or whatever, gave me mixed feelings. Before Kira had started judging, I didn't really believe in anything. My parent's both prayed to Budda, and sometimes we went to temples, but I didn't really believe in anything still. But now, if anyone had a religion 10 years ago, it was all screwed up. Kira had ruined many people's beliefs, and now nobody really knew what to believe in, knowing now that there was definitely _something_ out there.

"Really?" My brother asked. "That's kind of frightening, didn't you think?"

The waiter comes up to us, carrying a bottle of chilled water and some small glasses. She sets them down on the table, and I pour a glass of water.

"Not really," I say. "It's just a rumour." I say with finality. I down my glass.

The food arrives. My dish is small. I'd probably pick things off my mother's udon. She's likely not to eat it all anyway.

I pick up the chopsticks, picking off the raw fish, dipping it into the wasabi. The bitter hotness fills my mouth and I try not to taste it. It gives the sashimi a kind of tanginess.

All in all, it tastes pretty good. I try to eat slowly, so I'm not the first one finished and didn't have to wait until everyone is done.

My mother comments on how tasty everything is. I noticed that there is music playing in the background, a mix of calming songs. It's an English song I didn't know, but I can understand. I enjoy the song, and make a mental note to find out what it is when I get home.

I was pretty good at the English language. In fact, I wasn't just _good. _I was pretty fluent. The top of my class. I also knew a bit of Greek, because ever since I went travelling around the world a couple of years ago, and when my Aunt Hitomi fell in love with a man from a Greek island, we went over to Greece for their wedding, and there I learnt a few Greek words. Mostly curse words. The funny thing is, Hitomi doesn't know one word of Greek, and her husband doesn't spoke Japanese either, but they both know English, so that's how they communicate. If that's not true love- staying with someone even though you didn't spoke a word of their native language- I didn't know what is.

Soon after we finish our food, it was nearing midnight. We pay for our food, and then leave, heading for the Shibuya crossing. I noticed that the other family that went to the same restaurant that we were in were going to the crossing as well. They were walking in front of us, so we just followed them, since we weren't exactly natives to the Shibuya area.

The crossing was teeming with people, mostly tourists. I cross my arms stoically. The crossing was like one humongous street party, and well… I wasn't really one for street parties.

I rub my eyes, feigning tiredness, and then I worry whether I rubbed my mascara all over my face, then I remember that I didn't even put on any makeup because I most likely wasn't going to see anybody I know here, or anyone good looking either, because you got to keep up appearances, according to my mother and sister. They both had expertise for makeup, and in the first few years of my teenage years, I never had an interest in makeup, but as I got older, I realised that it wasn't such a bad thing that people made it out to be.

You weren't any more natural or unnatural if you didn't wear makeup or not. At least that was what I thought.

Anyway, there was loud dance music playing, and there a lot of lights flashing. All in all, it was very loud, very large and very rowdy. People were taking pictures, and mostly everyone was smiling and having fun. I noticed some people in costumes, and others in Lolita garb and other fashion cultures as well.

Soon enough, I actually found myself enjoying the night.

We stayed a little bit past the crossing, but when the countdown would begin, we would cross it to watch the numbers be projected on the mass of the building around us.

There was only two minutes to go, so we quickly went up to the crossing, and stood at the very edge of it. Only one minute left.

It was agonising, waiting for the countdown. Normally I am a patient person, but I was excited.

Finally, there was a noise like a horn blaring loudly, interrupting the music playing on the speakers, signifying the start of the countdown.

We start to cross the road, in the first second that it started counting down. That was when something strange and superbly abnormal happened.

Time seemed to stand still, and I got a painful, terrible headache.

I almost screamed out loud, but I bit on my bottom lip. Instead there was just the sound of a muffled noise of pain. My eyes had shut, and my hands were clutched around my head.

When I opened my eyes, I was somewhere unknown, but also strangely familiar. My headache was gone, almost as if it was never there in the first place. I look around, turning around the spot. I take a few steps backwards, my breath hitching in my throat. And then I bump into something.

I whirl around, and there is another girl there. She has black hair reaching to her chin, a round face, full lips and dark eyes. I gasp, and she takes a few steps backwards.

It feels like there is darkness enclosing around us. It makes me feel claustrophobic and scared.

"I-I-I" I say, but no words form.

I hear something rustling. It sounds like wheat in the wind. I look at the girl in front of me. She looks like she wants to say something as well, but her words fail her.

I look at her but she is looking at something else. Her expression is slack, her face blanched. I follow her line of sight, and when I see what she is staring at, I almost topple backwards.

There is some strange kind of being standing before us. It had a strange twisted smile, and long stringy black hair tied back. It had limbs like a human, except there was something ethereal about it.

"Hello." It said simply.

I clap a hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

It noticed the look on my face and frowned, looking behind itself. "What?" The voice sounded masculine. "Is there something scary behind me?"

When it realised that there was nothing, he frowned even deeper. His face seemed like it was made of undried clay, like it would be easy to squish under your hands.

"Oh. You're referring to me, weren't you? You know that's really rude! Once upon a time you humans used to worship _kami _like me!"

I frowned at the scolding, and then I took a few steps back when my senses came to me. "What do you mean? _Kami_!" I look to the girl beside me. She looked like she… accepted this. I stare at her. "Why were you so calm? We need to get out of here!" I say. I'm panicking.

She replies in a quiet voice. "I didn't know what's going on either. But… something is definitely going on. There's obviously something bigger than the both of us here, judging by this…"

"_Chimita-no-kami_!" He said indignantly.

The girl was quick to appease him. I looked at her incredulously. She shrugged at me, as if to say 'seeing is believing.' "And is that your name, or your… species?"

The _chimita-no-kami _scoffed. "Of course it's not my name! My name is Hajime."

The girl smiled, she was still calm. "Nice to meet you, Hajime. My name is Ayako, and this is…"

She waits for me to say my name. "…Miu." I say grudgingly.

Ayako smiles, satisfied, "Great." She said. She kneels down low, to look the _kami_ in the eye, since it was a rather small thing, barely reaching up to my knee. "Now, what is it that you came to us for?"

I remember the other creature that I saw before, and I look to the side, to see if it was still there, or if I was just hallucinating. For all I know, I might have been hallucinating now. That was probably it. There must have been something in my sashimi; I should have just stuck to the ramen.

Nevertheless, drugged or not, the creature was still there, and it was moving slowly, as if it was encased in water. It had long limbs and a narrow body, hunched over on all fours, slightly resembling a lion.

I swallow and look back at the creature. It sighed heavily. And looked at its wrist as if checking the time, but then realised that it didn't have a watch.

He made a noise of disgruntlement. "I'll tell you soon. Just wait a few seconds, will you?"

"Uh, okay." Ayako said.

I definitely was _not okay._

"Wait, _what?_" I almost screech. I was going crazy in here. It was dark as night and I couldn't see the ground beneath my feet. I stayed still where I was, feeling like if I was going to take another step I would fall down into a great abyss. "I-I didn't know what I'm doing here! You-you take us away from our f_amilies, _and then you didn't tell us what we were here for? Were you _crazy_? Or maybe I'm the crazy one here!"

The _kami _growled. "Hey you, girl! I'm trying my best here, okay. I have orders, and I have to initiate them, alright. It shouldn't be too long now until we can explain everything! See, we _kami _can be assigned with one human, and mine just so happens to be this one-" He pointed to Ayako. "And this one over there," He pointed to the lion-esque figure "Is still waking up and he's the one connected to you! He's the one who's gonna tell you what's going on, so calm down, and be patient, alright?"

I am still teeming with more questions. "What do you mean connected?" I ask. My voice is a bit calmer, but still holds it harshness.

The _chimita-no-kami _crosses its arms. "I mean, we were your guides. Maybe connections was a bit strong of a term, but we were essentially your guides, that means that if you accept your task then we have to help you through it, alright? Now stop jumping down my throat. We're just tryin' to do our jobs here." He said grumpily.

I cross my arms as well, a mirror image of the short creature standing indignantly before us. "Whatever." I retort smartly.

We stand in an uncomfortable silence for several seconds. I'm looking at the sleeping creature that is apparently my guide, and then I jump backwards when it opens it wide, furry maw and lets out a loud roar, not unlike that of a lion, either.

My hand jumps to my chest and I let out a noise of surprise. And then in half a second, it stands before me.

And it's the strangest, beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was like an animal in stature, with a head like a grizzly bear, a mane like a lion and a long sleek body like that of no animal that I had ever seen before.

My jaw drops, but I am still wary of it.

It spokes. "I am Toshigami."

I didn't say a word. Ayako spokes for me. "Hello. I am Ayako, and this is Miu. I want to know-"

I interrupt her, tired of her peacefulness and soft spoken voice. "What were we doing here?" I ask roughly.

He spokes immediately without falter. "To put simply, the world has fallen to ruins. It's up to you to fix that."

"It seems perfectly fine to me." I say.

"Maybe it does to you, but unless you have been watching over the Earth since the time you were born, you start to realise things. The world has never been perfect, but it was functioning. It was all until very recently, that things have started to fall apart. I suppose you can guess what the recent occurrence is." His eyes flicker between Ayako and I.

"Kira." We say at the same time.

"Indeed." Toshigami said. I frown, noticing how Hajime has not spoken. I look at him, and he is tight lipped. I deduce that Toshigami is held in higher reverence than a chimita-no-kami is.

"So what is it that we were to do?" Ayako asked.

"I ask for your assistance to go back in time and stop Kira from becoming Kira." He said plainly.

I make a start. "Go back in time?" I ask, disbelief dripping from my voice. "I understand that you have… magical powers or whatever that will allow you to do that, but wasn't this sort of… illogical? How were we even supposed to know who Kira is? How were we supposed to stop him?"

Toshigami's eyes glinted. "All I can tell you is that Kira drew his powers from a Death Note of the Shinigami realm. If you can locate the Death Note, you will find Kira. I know you have a lot of questions," He said, noticing the look on my face as I was about to interrupt him, "And there were only a few things I can tell you. We _kami, _and even the entire global pantheon,that is, the ancient gods that ruled over the worlds have been… woken. Before the Shinigami named Ryuk dropped his Death Note to Earth, humanity was quite… peaceful. When Kira claimed himself a god of the new world, we were too late to act, especially me, since I am asleep every day except for one day of the year, the first of January.

"Besides that, humanity had progressed so well without our guidance, so we simply became lazy. Believe it or not, when we interfered with the lives of humans, terrible things happened. Even more so than these criminal acts. Of course, these acts were still present in this century, but they were worse in your ancient times. Kira had not realised that, and if he had truly succeeded in becoming a god, the Earth would have returned to its horrific state that it had been in before."

I look incredulous. I had been interested in history and studied it by myself with no prompting from school or anything like that, but he was speaking like there have been no heinous criminal acts for a very long time.

Toshigami gazes into my eyes. And it feels like he knows exactly what I'm thinking. Or maybe my expression is just that obvious.

"I have been alive for over 1000 years, Miu." He said in a slow, drawling voice. "Everywhere you went in Japan when I was still young and we interfered, there was an abundance of death and sexual exploits and assaults. There were plenty of wars and there was no peace."

"The world hasn't changed much then." I point out.

Toshigami lets out a sight of very warm air. "Let me put this simpler for you," He said impatiently. "10 out of 10 women in ancient Japan have been physically assaulted. Since then, the number has greatly dwindled-Yes, I know it hasn't stopped, but what I'm trying to say, is that if Kira pulled through with his plans, then those statistics would have risen 5 times as much as it was in ancient times. Does that make sense?"

I say that it does. I get it now. Before, men could do whatever they wanted with whoever they wanted to, without ever having to face the consequences. Now there is the law that condemns all those things, and even if it still is abundant in the world, it is still less than what it used to be.

"Alright, I suppose… but Kira failed, didn't he? So why do you need us for?" I look at Ayako, who had been quiet in the presence of Toshigami.

"Ah, you forget." Toshigami said. "We cannot leave Earth the way it is. Do you noticed how there is no one who talks of Kira anymore? As if he never existed, am I right? Nobody wants to acknowledge that there was something supernatural going on throughout that time, humans were so funny" He snorts "They were so eager to believe that there is someone watching over them so they can blame them when things go haywire, but when there is someone tangible, they pretend not to see it."

I nodded. "Yep. Hilarious." I said drily. I may not have been a person of faith (although actually meeting some gods is doing things to disprove that) but I have friends who were highly faithful and of many different religions that I didn't find it funny to shame people on relying on beings or deities that gave them hope.

Toshigami sighed, realising that he had picked his words wrong. That or he was upset that I had talked him down and he was getting nowhere with his explanation.

Ayako looks at me sternly. "Can you just let him finish?" There were lines on her forehead from where she was frowning.

I was going to retort, but then thought better of it and sighed. I made a gesture to him, as if allowing him to go on.

He looked pleased, if a bear could look pleased. "Thank you," He said pointedly to Ayako. "Now, may I go on without being interrupted?"

"If you didn't have anything stupid to say." I mutter under my breath, looking him in the eye. His eyes flash with a fiery glint.

"Remember who you're talking to." He said sternly. I refrain from rolling my eyes. He continues from where he left off. "Now, since nobody wants to acknowledge Kira, everything that he has done has caused a worldwide confused, downward spiral. He murdered many people before their life spans had ended, eradicating four fifths of the world's population in the span of 10 years. Even now, the world is still young, and it'll be a long time until there are no criminal acts in the world. Kira acted too quickly, too hastily and too prematurely. I'm afraid that if you do not go through with this mission, the entire world will fall back into old habits.

"I didn't know if you have noticed, but there were a lot more homeless now. The majority of people that Kira killed were men, and nearly everywhere in the world, the men were the 'bread winners'- and yes, Miu, I know that's not the case everywhere, but statistically speaking- which means that if these criminals had a family, they would have been surely going broke. Governments around the world have been doing whatever they can to help these innocent families, providing them with a small amount of money, calling it the Kira Initiative, to get back on their feet, but that is simply not enough, and now, there is a prejudice against people who have had people close to them killed by Kira, even if no one wants to say it outright, which makes it harder for these people to find jobs."

Honestly I had not even noticed. Probably because I was one of the fortunate people who had not had anyone close me killed by Kira. I looked at Ayako, who looked like she already knew all this. Maybe she had someone die.

"There were still the people who think that Kira is alive and still passing judgement, although he is not." I nodded. There were plenty of those crazies out on the streets, protesting against the hushed up-ness of the Kira case.

Toshigami went on. "They believe that whoever suffers from a heart attack, whether they live or not is the cause of Kira. If they live, that means that Kira is warning them not to do something bad."

Toshigami made a noise like a scoff and said bitterly: "As if they need any more reminders. Anyway, we _kami _believe that it is only a matter of time until another Shinigami becomes bored and drops their notebook for more entertainment, so in order to delay that, we have confiscated many Shinigami's notebooks, very reluctantly, mind you, and have only left the most responsible of Shinigami to carry notebooks… and there were very few responsible Shinigami."

I noticed that ever since he came here, Toshigami had not even glanced at Hajime, but when I looked at Hajime, I noticed that he had not once taken his eyes off him, like he was starstruck. I frown slightly, wondering why Toshigami had not acknowledged him at all, but he just keeps on talking.

"Anyhow, since we were worried about how the human world is going to progress after Kira, we _kami _have taken upon us to make it right."

I nod. Ayako spoke this time.

"What do you want us to do?" She asked warily.

Hajime finally tears his eyes away from Toshigami. When he spoke, it was much more formal and slow, as if weighing each word carefully.

"We ask you to go back in time to stop Kira from ever becoming himself." His voice is much softer, and less… in your face.

The change was startling. And so was his answer, but I have to say, I would have been pretty stupid not to expect something like that.

I crossed my arms, not too eager to go messing with time. "Can't you just remove everyone's memories of Kira, or something, instead of making it all the more complicated?"

Ayako frowns and said in a doubtful voice the same time I spoke. "What if we fail?"

Toshigami and Hajime answered our questions separately, respectively:

"We cannot tamper with the entire population of humanities memories. Trust me, we all thought about it, but we deemed it too taxing, and too dangerous. What if someone remembered? What if we missed somebody and they spread the word? Amnesia is something dangerous, however making it so a being never existed, that would be so." Toshigami said.

Hajime looked at Ayako with strange eyes, like he pitied her. "That's why we were going to be here, to guide to make sure that you didn't fail."

Ayako and I still had plenty more questions, but Ayako was the first to voice them.

"Why were we chosen?"

Hajime seemed more comfortable speaking now, since he had raised his voice the first time, so he answered. Or maybe he is just more comfortable talking to Ayako, since they were connected, or whatever the reason was.

"Well, out of all the people all over the globe, you and Miu were the only candidates."

I frowned, finding it ridiculous that out of the entire world, we were the only ones available. Ayako voiced my thoughts, thinking the same as me.

Hajime keeps on explaining, and surprisingly enough, it actually makes sense. "Anyone who qualifies doesn't spoke Japanese, and that is where Kira resides, and I'm afraid someone who does not seem like a native would just draw too much attention. You both were natives to the area where Kira lived, and I believe that you, Miu have quite fine deductive skills."

I was shocked to find him complimenting me, and that he knew about my skills, nonetheless! He was still addressing me. "You have a similar personality to someone who came quite close to catching the killer, and you Ayako. You're quite creative and emotional, and never minding that, you were both the most intelligent people that could possibly succeed in this mission, therefore you can both use each other's skills and intelligence to come up with a plan on how to overcome Kira and stop him"

Toshigami made a loud noise… sort of like he's yawning. He said in his slow, drawling voice: "We were running out of time. You only have a few seconds to make your choice. Any other questions you have will be answered if you accept. You must both accept, otherwise, if you go by yourself, the task will be doomed. The consequences if you decline will be grave. Do you accept?"

He gave us a choice, but it was a take it or you will die kind of choice. It's only up to us to make Kira's wrongs right. Ayako and I spoke simultaneously.

"We accept."

**A/N: So, there it is. I'm probably going to update very slowly, please excuse any tense changes! This was originally in present tense and I tried to change it to past tense to best of my ability, so sorry if I missed anything! I have everything up to chapter 8 written out, but I'd rather update with a new chapter when I finish writing current chapters! As always, constructive criticism is welcome.**


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